Reading Harry Potter with Hogwarts
by TheLestrangeMistress
Summary: Dumbledore gets the Harry Potter books and decides to read chapters from books 1-6 before reading the Deathly Hallows. Set at the end of fourth year. (was originally set before xmas of 5th year but I forgot about Umbridge.)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: I know that this has been done a thousand times, but I really wanted to do it where Deathly Hallows is finished. I scoured the site and could only find two that were. I thought I might add a few chapters from the first six books (less than 6 each), because I want Hogwarts to have a clear idea of who Harry is, and what Voldemort is really like.**

Albus Dumbledore sat behind the desk in his office studying the package which had been delivered to him. It contained seven books on Harry Potter's first six years at Hogwarts, and what was supposed to be his seventh year on the run. No letter accompanied them, and he had checked them for spells and enchantments but had found nothing. He decided that Hogwarts would read the important chapters of the first six before they headed straight to the last one, just to know parts of the story before the end was revealed. He hoped beyond anything that Harry prevailed despite knowing that he was probably a horcrux.

Pulling some parchment out of one of the drawers, he began writing letters to several different people so they could witness the reading. He knew that Minister Fudge would be unhappy at what the development, but thought that it was essential to have him there.

The students were sitting down for dinner when Dumbledore rose and asked for silence.

"I have an important announcement to make. For the next few days classes shall be cancelled and the entire school will be involved in a reading session."

The Great Hall broke out into murmurs. They were all wondering what they were going to read and if it was really that important to cancel lessons for.

Dumbledore put his hand up and they were once again silent.

"The books I have acquired are about Mr Potter's life at Hogwarts. Three of them are set in the future, and we will read the most important parts of books one to six, and the whole of the seventh. The fourth book contains the details of Cedric Diggory's death which the Ministry does not want me to tell you. I feel, however, that as his friends and classmates you have the right to know what happened to him. I have not read the last book as I feel that due to the synopsis that we should read it together. The Minister of Magic, Amelia Bones, Professor Lupin, two Auror's and many of the Weasley family will be joining the reading." Dumbledore explained.

The hall had looked towards Harry, who it seemed was in shock about it.


	2. The Boy Who Lived

**Author's Note: I have decided to do 5 chapters from the Philosopher's Stone. The boy who lived, The keeper of the keys, Halloween, Through the trap door, and the man with two faces. I might get the rest done and post them altogether. I haven't decided on the ones for CoS yet. I know I said Sirius wasn't going to appear until PoA but I wanted him there so he's Padfoot at the moment. Please enjoy.**

Everyone assembled in the Great Hall at eight o' clock in the morning ready to hear what Harry Potter had done in his time at Hogwarts, and also what was going to happen in the future.

The guests had been seated at their own table, and everyone apart from Harry, Hermione, Malfoy, and the Weasley's wondered what Professor Lupin was doing with a black shaggy dog next to him.

Professor Dumbledore rose and walked to the podium set in front of the high table.

"Welcome everybody to the reading. I spent last night going over the first six books to determine which chapters shall be read, and I think that we shall start at the beginning of the first one. I would like to ask people to be quiet when I, or someone else is reading. Chapter One, The Boy Who Lived."

**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"How can they not approve of imagination?" the Weasley twins cried.

**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so**

**much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours. The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

Ron snorted. "No finer boy anywhere? I think your aunt and uncle are deluded Harry."

"Ronald." Mrs Weasley scolded. She knew they were not nice people, but she didn't want her son being rude.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs**

**Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.**

"There was nothing wrong with the Potter's." Professor Flitwick squeaked. He had taught them both and they were fine people.

**The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"A child like what, exactly?" exclaimed many of the adults.

**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

**None of them noticed a large tawny owl flutter past the window.**

**At half past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek and tried to kiss Dudley goodbye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. 'Little tyke,' chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and**

**backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar – a cat reading a map. For a second, Mr Dursley didn't realise what he had seen – then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there**

**wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light.**

"How stupid can he get?" asked Malfoy rather loudly.

"A lot more." Harry replied.

**Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said _Privet Drive _– no, _looking _at the sign; cats couldn't read maps _or _signs. Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove towards town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **

"What's wrong with cloaks?" several students asked.

"Muggles don't usually wear cloaks anymore." Professor Burbage answered.

**Mr Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes – the get-ups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him! But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt – these people were obviously collecting for something ... yes, that would be it. **

"That's unbelievable. How can he just dismiss that?"

"Sometimes people don't want to believe what's right in front of them." Hermione said.

**The traffic moved on, and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings car park, his mind back on drills.**

**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. _He _didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night-time. Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunch-time, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the baker's opposite.**

Harry snorted and people stared at him. When he noticed this he said, "He won't walk anywhere unless he gets something out of it."

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This lot were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past**

**them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

'**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard –'**

'– **yes, their son, Harry –'**

**Mr Dursley stopped dead. Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it. He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking ... no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name. **

"It is in the wizarding world. There is only one family with it." Luna said dreamily.

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think**

**of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew was called Harry. He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. **

"He didn't know your name?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"I don't know if he even knows it now." Harry replied shrugging.

Many of the adults in the room frowned at this but said nothing.

Snape, however, was wondering whether Potter's life was not as good as he thought. He knew Petunia was jealous of Lily and had treated her badly, and might have treated him bad too.

**There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley, she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her – if _he'd _had a sister like that ... but all the same, those people in cloaks ...**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon, and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

'**Sorry,' he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realised that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a**

**squeaky voice that made passers-by stare: 'Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy happy day!' And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

"Someone actually managed to get their arms around him?" said Harry.

"Yeah, he's so fat I'm surprised they actually fit." Fred said.

**Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't**

**approve of imagination.**

"How can they not approve of imagination?" the Weasley twins cried.

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw – and it didn't improve his mood – was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"Is that you Professor McGonagall?" Hermione asked.

McGonagall answered with a smile.

'**Shoo!' said Mr Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour, Mr Dursley wondered. **

"No, that's definitely Professor McGonagall." Lee Jordan exclaimed. He had been on the receiving end of her stern look one too many times and just knew it was her.

**Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learnt a new word ('Shan't!'). Mr Dursley tried to act normally. **

**When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living-room in time to catch the last report on the evening news: _And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern._' The news reader allowed himself a grin. '_Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?_'**

'**_Well, Ted_,' said the weatherman, _'I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting_**

_**stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early – it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight.'**_

"That was really silly. We could have been found out if more muggles took notice." Luna Lovegood said in her dreamy voice.

**Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And**

**a whisper, a whisper about the Potters ...**

**Mrs Dursley came into the living-room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. 'Er – Petunia, dear – you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?'**

**As he had expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

'**No,' she said sharply. 'Why?'**

'**Funny stuff on the news,' Mr Dursley mumbled. 'Owls ... shooting stars ... and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today ...'**

'**_So?' _snapped Mrs Dursley.**

'**Well, I just thought ... maybe ... it was something to do with ... you know ... _her lot.'_**

"Her lot? Does he mean witches and wizards?" Susan Bones asked turning to Harry.

"Yes, my aunt and uncle don't like magic very much." He replied.

**Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name 'Potter'. He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, 'Their son – he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?'**

'**I suppose so,' said Mrs Dursley stiffly.**

'**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?'**

'**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me.'**

'**Oh, yes,' said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. 'Yes, I quite agree.'**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it was waiting for something.**

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did ... if it got out that they were related to a pair of – well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters _were _involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew**

**very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind ... He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on. He yawned and turned over. It couldn't affect _them _...**

**How very wrong he was.**

"I wish he was wrong." Harry said quietly so only Ron and Hermione could hear.

**Mr Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed in the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

"What made you wait so long Professor?" Hannah Abbott asked.

"I was waiting for someone Miss Abbott." McGonagall replied.

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue**

**eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realise that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

"Of course I did, but didn't particularly care." Dumbledore commented.

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realise he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, 'I should have known.'**

**He had found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again – the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the**

**Put-Outer, until the only lights left in the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement.**

**Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street towards number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

'**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.'**

"Knew it!" the twins cried.

"I think most people did." Ginny said laughing.

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a**

**tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

'**How did you know it was me?' she asked.**

'**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly.'**

'**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day,' said Professor McGonagall.**

'**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here.'**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. 'Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right,' she said impatiently. 'You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no – even the Muggles have noticed**

**something's going on. It was on their news.' She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. 'I heard it. Flocks of owls ... shooting stars ... Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent – I'll bet that was Dedalus**

**Diggle. He never had much sense.'**

'**You can't blame them,' said Dumbledore gently. 'We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years.'**

"I hope it doesn't take that long this time." Harry commented. "I actually want to live my life."

'**I know that,' said Professor McGonagall irritably. 'But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours.'**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on: 'A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really**

**_has _gone, Dumbledore?'**

'**It certainly seems so,' said Dumbledore. 'We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a sherbet lemon?'**

'**A _what_?'**

'**A sherbet lemon. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of.'**

'**No, thank you,' said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for sherbet lemons. 'As I say, even if You-Know-Who _has _gone –'**

'**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this "You-Know-Who" nonsense – for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: _Voldemort_.' Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking**

**two sherbet lemons, seemed not to notice. 'It all gets so confusing if we keep saying "You-Know-Who".' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name.'**

"And you shouldn't be!" Harry yelled causing a few people to jump.

'**I know you haven't,' said Professor McGonagall, sounding half-exasperated, half-admiring. 'But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know – oh, all right, _Voldemort – _was frightened of.'**

'**You flatter me,' said Dumbledore calmly. 'Voldemort had powers I will never have.'**

'**Only because you're too – well – _noble _to use them.'**

'**It's lucky it's dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs.'**

"That was a bit too much information Professor." Someone called out.

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, 'The owls are nothing to the _rumours _that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?'**

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that**

**whatever 'everyone' was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another sherbet lemon and did not answer.**

'**What they're _saying,' _she pressed on, 'is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumour is that Lily and James Potter are – are – that they're – _dead._'**

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

Everyone who had known the couple bowed their heads too.

'**Lily and James ... I can't believe it ... I didn't want to believe it ... Oh, Albus ...'**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. 'I know ... I know ...' he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. 'That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potters' son, Harry. But – he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke – and that's why he's gone.'**

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

'**It's – it's _true_?' faltered Professor McGonagall. 'After all he's done ... all the people he's killed ... he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding ... of all the things to stop him ... but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?'**

'**We can only guess,' said Dumbledore. 'We may never know.'**

Harry looked straight at Professor Dumbledore and said, "You always knew why I survived."

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, 'Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?'**

'**Yes,' said Professor McGonagall. 'And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?'**

'**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now.'**

'**You don't mean – you _can't _mean the people who live _here?' _cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four.**

'**Dumbledore – you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son – I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!'**

'**It's the best place for him,' said Dumbledore firmly. 'His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter.'**

"You left me with them with only a letter explaining things? Did you really think that would be enough?" Harry asked as his anger boiled inside him. He was still angry at the Headmaster for ignoring him.

'**A letter?' repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. 'Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous – a legend – I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in future – there will be books written about Harry – every child in our world will know his name!'**

'**Exactly,' said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. 'It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all**

**that until he's ready to take it?'**

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed and then said, 'Yes – yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?' She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

'**Hagrid's bringing him.'**

'**You think it – _wise _– to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?'**

"I'm sorry Hagrid." Professor McGonagall apologised.

"No problem Minerva." Hagrid said.

'**I would trust Hagrid with my life,' said Dumbledore.**

'**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place,' said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, 'but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to– what was that?'**

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorbike fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

**If the motorbike was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so _wild _– long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

'**Hagrid,' said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. 'At last. And where did you get that motorbike?'**

'**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir,' said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. 'Young Sirius Black lent it me. I've got him, sir.'**

'**No problems, were there?'**

'**No, sir – house was almost destroyed but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol.'**

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

'**Is that where –?' whispered Professor McGonagall.**

'**Yes,' said Dumbledore. 'He'll have that scar forever.'**

'**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?'**

"I wish you could." Harry muttered.

'**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in useful. I have one myself above my left knee which is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well – give him here, Hagrid – we'd better get this over with.' **

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned towards the Dursleys' house.**

'**Could I – could I say goodbye to him, sir?' asked Hagrid.**

**He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

'**Shhh!' hissed Professor McGonagall. 'You'll wake the Muggles!'**

'**S-s-sorry,' sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. 'But I c-c-can't stand it – Lily an' James dead – an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles –'**

'**Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found,' Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets and then came back to the other two. **

"You left him on the doorstep in November?" Molly Weasley asked shrilly.

"We put protection, cushioning, and heating charms on and around him Molly." Professor McGonagall said.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

'**Well,' said Dumbledore finally, 'that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations.'**

'**Yeah,' said Hagrid in a very muffled voice. 'I'd best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall – Professor Dumbledore, sir.'**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself on to the motorbike and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

'**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall,' said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

'**Good luck, Harry,' he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak he was gone.**

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. **

**Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs Dursley's scream as she opened**

**the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley ... He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: 'To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!'**

"That is where our story begins. If anyone would like to read the next chapter it's called 'The Keeper of the Keys'."


	3. The Keeper of the Keys

**Author's Notes: I have decided to upload chapter by chapter instead of all at once. I still haven't decided that chapters I should do for CoS, but have for PoA so once I have finished these I might start on them.**

"May I read?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Of course you can read Professor." Dumbledore replied handing the book to her.

**BOOM. They knocked again. Dudley jerked awake. 'Where's the cannon?' he said stupidly.**

**There was a crash behind them and Uncle Vernon came skidding into the room. He was holding a rifle in his hands – now they knew what had been in the long, thin package he had brought with them.**

"He brought a gun!" Hermione exclaimed. "How could he be so irresponsible to have something like that around children."

'**Who's there?' he shouted. 'I warn you – I'm armed!'**

**There was a pause. Then – SMASH!**

**The door was hit with such force that it swung clean off its hinges and with a deafening crash landed flat on the floor.**

**A giant of a man was standing in the doorway. His face was almost completely hidden by a long, shaggy mane of hair and a wild, tangled beard, but you could make out his eyes, glinting like black beetles under all the hair.**

"Hagrid!" many of the Gryffindor students cheered.

**The giant squeezed his way into the hut, stooping so that his head just brushed the ceiling. He bent down, picked up the door and fitted it easily back into its frame. The noise of the storm outside dropped a little. He turned to look at them all.**

'**Couldn't make us a cup o' tea, could yeh? It's not been an easy journey ...'**

**He strode over to the sofa where Dudley sat frozen with fear.**

'**Budge up, yeh great lump,' said the stranger.**

**Dudley squeaked and ran to hide behind his mother, who was crouching, terrified, behind Uncle Vernon.**

'**An' here's Harry!' said the giant.**

**Harry looked up into the fierce, wild, shadowy face and saw that the beetle eyes were crinkled in a smile.**

'**Las' time I saw you, you was only a baby,' said the giant. 'Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes.'**

"The first time anybody told me that."

**Uncle Vernon made a funny rasping noise.**

'**I demand that you leave at once, sir!' he said. 'You are breaking and entering!'**

'**Ah, shut up, Dursley, yeh great prune,' said the giant. He reached over the back of the sofa, jerked **

**the gun out of Uncle Vernon's hands, bent it into a knot as easily as if it had been made of rubber, and threw it into a corner of the room.**

"Thank god for that." Hermione said relieved.

**Uncle Vernon made another funny noise, like a mouse being trodden on.**

'**Anyway – Harry,' said the giant, turning his back on the Dursleys, 'a very happy birthday to yeh. Got summat fer yeh here – I mighta sat on it at some point, but it'll taste all right.'**

**From an inside pocket of his black overcoat he pulled a slightly squashed box. Harry opened it with trembling fingers. Inside was a large, sticky chocolate cake with _Happy Birthday Harry _written on it in green icing.**

"My first birthday cake." Harry whispered

**Harry looked up at the giant. He meant to say thank you, but the words got lost on the way to his mouth, and what he said instead was, 'Who are you?'**

"You should mind your manners Harry." Mrs Weasley chided him.

"I will Mrs Weasley." Harry replied.

**The giant chuckled.**

'**True, I haven't introduced meself. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts.'**

**He held out an enormous hand and shook Harry's whole arm. 'What about that tea then, eh?' he said, rubbing his hands together. 'I'd not say no ter summat stronger if yeh've got it, mind.'**

**His eyes fell on the empty grate with the shrivelled crisp packets in it and he snorted. He bent down over the fireplace; they couldn't see what he was doing but when he drew back a second later, there was a roaring fire there. It filled the whole damp hut with flickering light and Harry felt the warmth wash over him as though he'd sunk into a hot bath.**

_At least he's warm now_ Mrs Weasley thought.

**The giant sat back down on the sofa, which sagged under his weight, and began taking all sorts of things out of the pockets of his coat: a copper kettle, a squashy package of sausages, a poker, a teapot, several chipped mugs and a bottle of some amber liquid which he took a swig from**

**before starting to make tea. Soon the hut was full of the sound and smell of sizzling sausage. Nobody said a thing while the giant was working, but as he slid the first six fat, juicy, slightly burnt sausages from the poker, Dudley fidgeted a little. Uncle Vernon said sharply, 'Don't touch anything he gives you, Dudley.'**

"I don't think he needs anymore food. In fact I think he should stick to the diet the nurse gave him before." George said.

**The giant chuckled darkly.**

'**Yer great puddin' of a son don' need fattenin' any more, Dursley, don' worry.'**

**He passed the sausages to Harry, who was so hungry he had never tasted anything so wonderful, but he still couldn't take his eyes off the giant.**

**Finally, as nobody seemed about to explain anything, he said, 'I'm sorry, but I still don't really know who you are.'**

**The giant took a gulp of tea and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.**

'**Call me Hagrid,' he said, 'everyone does. An' like I told yeh, I'm Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts – yeh'll know all about Hogwarts, o' course.'**

'**Er – no,' said Harry.**

**Hagrid looked shocked.**

As was a lot of the Great Hall at that moment. Malfoy could not believe that the Gryffindor golden boy had no idea about the wizarding world. Which, he soon realised, that he also didn't know about his fame or the Dark Lord.

Snape could not believe that Petunia's jealousy would cause her to keep something this big from Potter.

'**Sorry,' Harry said quickly.**

"Why do you always sorry for something you don't know mate?" Ron asked.

Harry shrugged. "I guess because the Dursley's have blamed me for so much that I just said sorry to make life with them easier."

"You shouldn't have to say sorry for something you didn't do to make life with them easier Harry." Ginny commented.

"I found it easier that way."

'**_Sorry?' _barked Hagrid, turning to stare at the Dursleys, who shrank back into the shadows. 'It's them as should be sorry! I knew yeh weren't gettin' yer letters but I never thought yeh wouldn't even know abou' Hogwarts, fer cryin' out loud! Did yeh never wonder where yer parents learnt it**

**all?'**

'**All what?' asked Harry.**

'**ALL WHAT?' Hagrid thundered. 'Now wait jus' one second!'**

**He had leapt to his feet. In his anger he seemed to fill the whole hut. The Dursleys were cowering against the wall.**

'**Do you mean ter tell me,' he growled at the Dursleys, 'that this boy – this boy! – knows nothin' abou' – about ANYTHING?'**

"That's not going to make him feel good." Hermione said quietly. She knew Harry sometimes took offence to being told he knew little or nothing at all.

**Harry thought this was going a bit far. He had been to school, after all, and his marks weren't bad.**

'**I know _some _things,' he said. 'I can, you know, do maths and stuff.'**

**But Hagrid simply waved his hand and said, 'About _our _world, I mean. _Your _world. _My _world. _Yer parents' world.'_**

'**What world?'**

**Hagrid looked as if he was about to explode.**

'**DURSLEY!' he boomed.**

**Uncle Vernon, who had gone very pale, whispered something that sounded like 'Mimblewimble'. **

**Hagrid stared wildly at Harry.**

'**But yeh must know about yer mum and dad,' he said. 'I mean, they're _famous. You're _famous.'**

'**What? My – my mum and dad weren't famous, were they?'**

"You're told that you're famous but you only focus on the fact that you parents are?" Malfoy said loud enough for the whole hall to hear him.

"Yes I do Malfoy because it was one of the first things I ever knew about them." Harry replied angrily. He really wished these books, or chapters weren't being read to the rest of the school. He didn't need to have them knowing everything about him and his family.

'**Yeh don' know ... yeh don' know ...' Hagrid ran his fingers through his hair, fixing Harry with a bewildered stare. **

'**Yeh don' know what yeh _are?' _he said finally.**

**Uncle Vernon suddenly found his voice.**

'**Stop!' he commanded. 'Stop right there, sir! I forbid you to tell the boy anything!'**

**A braver man than Vernon Dursley would have quailed under the furious look Hagrid now gave him; when Hagrid spoke, his every syllable trembled with rage.**

'**You never told him? Never told him what was in the letter Dumbledore left fer him? I was there! I saw Dumbledore leave it, Dursley! An' you've kept it from him all these years?'**

"I knew you shouldn't have just left a letter with them Dumbledore." McGonagall said between reading.

'**Kept _what _from me?' said Harry eagerly.**

'**STOP! I FORBID YOU!' yelled Uncle Vernon in panic.**

"As if you could forbid Hagrid from doing anything." Fred snorted.s

**Aunt Petunia gave a gasp of horror.**

'**Ah, go boil yer heads, both of yeh,' said Hagrid. 'Harry – yer a wizard.'**

**There was silence inside the hut. Only the sea and the whistling wind could be heard. **

'**I'm a _what?' _gasped Harry.**

'**A wizard, o' course,' said Hagrid, sitting back down on the sofa, which groaned and sank even lower, 'an' a thumpin' good'un, I'd say, once yeh've been trained up a bit. With a mum an' dad like yours, what else would yeh be? An' I reckon it's abou' time yeh read yer letter.'**

**Harry stretched out his hand at last to take the yellowish envelope, addressed in emerald green to _Mr H. Potter, _**

_**The Floor,**_

_**Hut-on-the-Rock,**_

_**The Sea.**_

**He pulled out the letter and read:**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

_**Dear Mr Potter,**_

_**We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.**_

_**Yours sincerely,**_

_**Minerva McGonagall**_

_**Deputy Headmistress**_

**Questions exploded inside Harry's head like fireworks and he couldn't decide which to ask first. **

**After a few minutes he stammered, 'What does it mean, they await my owl?'**

'**Gallopin' Gorgons, that reminds me,' said Hagrid, clapping a hand to his forehead with enough force to knock over a cart horse, and from yet another pocket inside his overcoat he pulled an owl – a real, live, rather ruffled-looking owl – a long quill and a roll of parchment. With his tongue**

**between his teeth he scribbled a note which Harry could read upside-down:**

_**Dear Mr Dumbledore,**_

_**Given Harry his letter. Taking him to buy his things tomorrow. Weather's horrible. Hope you're well.**_

_**Hagrid**_

**Hagrid rolled up the note, gave it to the owl, which clamped it in its beak, went to the door and threw the owl out into the storm. Then he came back and sat down as though this was as normal as talking on the telephone.**

"It is normal for us." Zacharias Smith sneered.

"I know that now Smith, but I had never seen an owl before and Muggle post is delivered by people not animals." Harry replied.

**Harry realised his mouth was open and closed it quickly.**

'**Where was I?' said Hagrid, but at that moment, Uncle Vernon, still ashen-faced but looking very angry, moved into the firelight.**

'**He's not going,' he said.**

**Hagrid grunted.**

'**I'd like ter see a great Muggle like you stop him,' he said.**

'**A what?' said Harry, interested.**

'**A Muggle,' said Hagrid. 'It's what we call non-magic folk like them. An' it's your bad luck you grew up in a family o' the biggest Muggles I ever**

**laid eyes on.'**

'**We swore when we took him in we'd put a stop to that rubbish,' said Uncle Vernon, 'swore we'd stamp it out of him! Wizard, indeed!'**

"Stamp it out! Do they not know how dangerous that could be?" Mrs Weasley exclaimed.

Dumbledore was grave. He knew Harry would suffer at the hands of his aunt and uncle, but never thought they would physically harm him.

"Did they ever try Harry?" he asked.

"Not physically, but they did try and make me as miserable as possible." Harry answered almost honestly. He never mentioned that he had been threatened, or that his uncle had tried to strangle him this summer.

'**You _knew?' _said Harry. 'You _knew _I'm a – a wizard?'**

'**Knew!' shrieked Aunt Petunia suddenly. _'Knew! _Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off to that – that _school _– and came home every holiday with her pockets full of frog-spawn, turning teacups into rats. I was the only one who saw her for what she was – a freak! But for my mother and father, oh no, it was Lily this and Lily that, they were proud of having a witch in the family!'**

"They should be proud to have a witch in the family. It's not something to be ashamed of." Susan Bones commented.

**She stopped to draw a deep breath and then went ranting on. It seemed she had been wanting to say all this for years.**

_I'm sure she had _thought Snape.

'**Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange, just as – as – _abnormal _– and then, if you please, she went and got herself blown up and we got landed with you!'**

**Harry had gone very white. As soon as he found his voice he said, 'Blown up? You told me they died in a car crash!'**

Remus Lupin had gone very white. He knew that Lily's sister could be horrible, but did not think that she would lie to Harry about how she and James had died. He could feel Sirius shaking with rage at his feet and couldn't stop him when he sprinted to Harry's side.

"Hello Snuffles." Harry said whilst ruffling his fur.

Sirius whined.

Leaning down, Harry whispered, "It's okay now, I know everything."

'**CAR CRASH!' roared Hagrid, jumping up so angrily that the Dursleys scuttled back to their corner. **

'**How could a car crash kill Lily an' James Potter? It's an outrage! A scandal! Harry Potter not knowin' his own story when every kid in our world knows his name!'**

'**But why? What happened?' Harry asked urgently.**

**The anger faded from Hagrid's face. He looked suddenly anxious.**

'**I never expected this,' he said, in a low, worried voice. 'I had no idea, when Dumbledore told me there might be trouble gettin' hold of yeh, how much yeh didn't know. Ah, Harry, I don' know if I'm the right person ter tell yeh – but someone's gotta – yeh can't go off ter Hogwarts not nowin'.'**

**He threw a dirty look at the Dursleys.**

'**Well, it's best yeh know as much as I can tell yeh – mind, I can't tell yeh everythin', it's a great myst'ry, parts of it ...'**

**He sat down, stared into the fire for a few seconds and then said, 'It begins, I suppose, with – with a person called – but it's incredible yeh don't know his name, everyone in our world knows –'**

'**Who?'**

'**Well – I don' like sayin' the name if I can help it. No one does.'**

'**Why not?'**

'**Gulpin' gargoyles, Harry, people are still scared. Blimey, this is difficult. See, there was this wizard who went ... bad. As bad as you could go. Worse. Worse than worse. His name was ...'**

**Hagrid gulped, but no words came out.**

'**Could you write it down?' Harry suggested.**

'**Nah – can't spell it. All right – _Voldemort.' _Hagrid shuddered. 'Don' make me say it again. Anyway, this – this wizard, about twenty years ago now, started lookin' fer followers. Got 'em, too –some were afraid, some just wanted a bit o' his power, 'cause he was gettin' himself power, all**

**right. Dark days, Harry. Didn't know who ter trust, didn't dare get friendly with strange wizards or witches ... Terrible things happened. He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him – an' he killed 'em. Horribly. One o' the only safe places left was Hogwarts. Reckon Dumbledore's the only**

**one You-Know-Who was afraid of. Didn't dare try takin' the school, not jus' then, anyway.**

'**Now, yer mum an' dad were as good a witch an' wizard as I ever knew. Head Boy an' Girl at Hogwarts in their day! Suppose the myst'ry is why You-Know-Who never tried to get 'em on his side before ... probably knew they were too close ter Dumbledore ter want anythin' ter do with the Dark Side.**

'**Maybe he thought he could persuade 'em ... maybe he just wanted 'em outta the way. All anyone knows is, he turned up in the village where you was all living, on Hallowe'en ten years ago. You was just a year old. He came ter yer house an' – an' –'**

**Hagrid suddenly pulled out a very dirty, spotted handkerchief and blew his nose with a sound like a foghorn.**

'**Sorry,' he said. 'But it's that sad – knew yer mum an' dad, an' nicer people yeh couldn't find – anyway –**

'**You-Know-Who killed 'em. An' then – an' this is the real myst'ry of the thing – he tried to kill you, too. Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin' by then. But he couldn't do it. Never wondered how you got that mark on yer forehead? That was no ordinary**

**cut. That's what yeh get when a powerful, evil curse touches yeh – took care of yer mum an' dad an' yer house, even – but it didn't work on you, an' that's why yer famous, Harry. No one ever lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some o' the best witches an' wizards of the age – the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts – an' you was only a baby, an' you lived.'**

**Something very painful was going on in Harry's mind. As Hagrid's story came to a close, he saw again the blinding flash of green light, more clearly than he had ever remembered it before –and he remembered something else, for the first time in his life – a high, cold, cruel laugh.**

"You remembered that before you faced the dementor?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Yes, but I didn't hear my mum though." Harry answered not really wanting to talk about it.

**Hagrid was watching him sadly.**

'**Took yeh from the ruined house myself, on Dumbledore's orders. Brought yeh ter this lot ...'**

'**Load of old tosh,' said Uncle Vernon. Harry jumped, he had almost forgotten that the Dursleys were there. Uncle Vernon certainly seemed to have got back his courage. He was glaring at Hagrid and his fists were clenched.**

'**Now, you listen here, boy,' he snarled. 'I accept there's something strange about you, probably nothing a good beating wouldn't have cured – and as for all this about your parents, well, they were weirdos, no denying it, and the world's better off without them in my opinion – asked for all they got, getting mixed up with these wizarding types – just what I expected, always knew they'd come to a sticky end –'**

**But at that moment, Hagrid leapt from the sofa and drew a battered pink umbrella from inside his coat. Pointing this at Uncle Vernon like a sword, he said, 'I'm warning you, Dursley – I'm warning you – one more word ...'**

**In danger of being speared on the end of an umbrella by a bearded giant, Uncle Vernon's courage failed again; he flattened himself against the wall and fell silent.**

'**That's better,' said Hagrid, breathing heavily and sitting back down on the sofa, which this time sagged right down to the floor.**

**Harry, meanwhile, still had questions to ask, hundreds of them.**

'**But what happened to Vol— sorry – I mean, You-Know-Who?'**

"I can't believe you're not saying his name here. I've never heard you say You-Know-Who." Ron said whining half-heartedly.

'**Good question, Harry. Disappeared. Vanished. Same night he tried ter kill you. Makes yeh even more famous. That's the biggest myst'ry, see ... he was gettin' more an' more powerful – why'd he go?**

'**Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die.**

"No he definitely didn't have enough human in him to die. I'd be surprised if there was any human left in him at all." Harry said loudly making people shiver.

The Hall did not like the casual way Harry talked about Voldemort. In fact they wondered just how he could talk about him that way.

**Some say he's still out there, bidin' his time, like, but I don' believe it. People who was on his side came back ter ours. Some of 'em came outta kinda trances. Don' reckon they could've done if he was comin' back.**

'**Most of us reckon he's still out there somewhere but lost his powers. Too weak to carry on. 'Cause somethin' about you finished him, Harry. There was somethin' goin' on that night he hadn't counted on – _I _dunno what it was, no one does – but somethin' about you stumped him, all right.'**

**Hagrid looked at Harry with warmth and respect blazing in his eyes, but Harry, instead of feeling pleased and proud, felt quite sure there had been a horrible mistake. A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley and bullied by Aunt Petunia and**

**Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard? If he'd once defeated the greatest sorcerer in the world, how come Dudley had always been able to kick him around like a football?**

'**Hagrid,' he said quietly, 'I think you must have made a mistake. I don't think I can be a wizard.'**

**To his surprise, Hagrid chuckled.**

'**Not a wizard, eh? Never made things happen when you was scared, or angry?'**

**Harry looked into the fire. Now he came to think about it ... every odd thing that had ever made his aunt and uncle furious with him had happened when he, Harry, had been upset or angry ... chased by Dudley's gang, he had somehow found himself out of their reach ... dreading going to school with that ridiculous haircut, he'd managed to make it grow back ... and the very last time Dudley had hit him, hadn't he got his revenge, without even realising he was doing it? Hadn't he set a boa constrictor on him?**

"You set a Boa Constrictor on your cousin?" Malfoy asked.

"Yeah, it was fun."

"Was this the same Boa Constrictor that told you it had never visited Brazil?" Ron asked.

"The very same." Harry answered smiling fondly at the memory.

**Harry looked back at Hagrid, smiling, and saw that Hagrid was positively beaming at him.**

'**See?' said Hagrid. 'Harry Potter, not a wizard – you wait, you'll be right famous at Hogwarts.'**

**But Uncle Vernon wasn't going to give in without a fight.**

'**Haven't I told you he's not going?' he hissed. 'He's going to Stonewall High and he'll be grateful for it. I've read those letters and he needs all sorts of rubbish – spell books and wands and –'**

'**If he wants ter go, a great Muggle like you won't stop him,' growled Hagrid. 'Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Hogwarts! Yer mad. His name's been down ever since he was born. He's off ter the finest school of witchcraft and wizardry in the world. Seven years there and he won't**

**know himself. He'll be with youngsters of his own sort, fer a change, an' he'll be under the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts ever had, Albus Dumbled —'**

'**I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!' yelled Uncle Vernon.**

Lupin chuckled despite himself. The Great Hall looked at him curiously. "The one thing you don't do in front of Hagrid is insult Professor Dumbledore." He told them.

**But he had finally gone too far. Hagrid seized his umbrella and whirled it over his head. 'NEVER –' he thundered, '– INSULT – ALBUS – DUMBLEDORE – IN – FRONT – OF – ME!'**

**He brought the umbrella swishing down through the air to point at Dudley – there was a flash of violet light, a sound like a firecracker, a sharp squeal and next second, Dudley was dancing on the spot with his hands clasped over his fat bottom, howling in pain. When he turned his back on**

**them, Harry saw a curly pig's tail poking through a hole in his trousers. **

**Uncle Vernon roared. Pulling Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the other room, he cast one last terrified look at Hagrid and slammed the door behind them.**

**Hagrid looked down at his umbrella and stroked his beard.**

'**Shouldn'ta lost me temper,' he said ruefully, 'but it didn't work anyway. Meant ter turn him into a pig, but I suppose he was so much like a pig anyway there wasn't much left ter do.'**

"You got that right Hagrid." The twins called in agreement.

**He cast a sideways look at Harry under his bushy eyebrows.**

'**Be grateful if yeh didn't mention that ter anyone at Hogwarts,' he said. 'I'm – er – not supposed ter do magic, strictly speakin'. I was allowed ter do a bit ter follow yeh an' get yer letters to yeh an' stuff – one o' the reasons I was so keen ter take on the job –'**

'**Why aren't you supposed to do magic?' asked Harry.**

'**Oh, well – I was at Hogwarts meself but I – er – got expelled, ter tell yeh the truth. In me third year. They snapped me wand in half an' everything. But Dumbledore let me stay on as gamekeeper. Great man, Dumbledore.'**

'**Why were you expelled?'**

'**It's gettin' late and we've got lots ter do tomorrow,' said Hagrid loudly. 'Gotta get up ter town, get all yer books an' that.'**

**He took off his thick black coat and threw it to Harry.**

'**You can kip under that,' he said. 'Don' mind if it wriggles a bit, I think I still got a couple o' dormice in one o' the pockets.'**

"That's the end of the chapter. Is there anyone who would like to read next?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"I will." Lupin offered. "The next chapter is called 'Halloween'."

"Oh no." Ron groaned. They were going to get into so much trouble.


	4. Hallowe'en

Everyone in fifth year and above shivered slightly. They all remembered the feast being interrupted by Professor Quirrell exclaiming that there was a troll in the dungeons before fainting.

Lupin, not noticing this, began to read.

**Malfoy couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that Harry and Ron were still at Hogwarts next day, looking tired but perfectly cheerful. Indeed, by next morning Harry and Ron thought that meeting the three-headed dog had been an excellent adventure and they were quite keen to have another one.**

"You kept a three headed dog in the school Albus?" Amelia Bones asked.

"I thought it was a necessary precaution Madam Bones. I had warned students at the start of term feast not to go in that particular area of the castle. If Mr Potter can forgive me for saying, he has a knack of finding things he shouldn't." Dumbledore answered.

Amelia Bones nodded, but was determined to speak about the matter in private.

**In the meantime, Harry filled Ron in about the package that seemed to have been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, and they spent a lot of time wondering what could possibly need such heavy protection.**

'**It's either really valuable or really dangerous,' said Ron.**

'**Or both,' said Harry.**

"It was definitely both." Harry said quietly.

**But as all they knew for sure about the mysterious object was that it was about two inches long, they didn't have much chance of guessing what it was without further clues.**

**Neither Neville or Hermione showed the slightest interest in what lay underneath the dog and the trapdoor. All Neville cared about was never going near the dog again.**

**Hermione was now refusing to speak to Harry and Ron, but she was such a bossy know-it-all that they saw this as an added bonus. **

"We're sorry Hermione." Harry and Ron said.

"It's okay; I know you didn't like me then." Hermione replied.

**All they really wanted now was a way of getting back at Malfoy, and to their great delight, just such a thing arrived with the post about a week later.**

**As the owls flooded into the Great Hall as usual, everyone's attention was caught at once by a long thin package carried by six large screech owls. Harry was just as interested as everyone else to see what was in this large parcel and was amazed when the owls soared down and dropped it right in front of him, knocking his bacon to the floor. They had hardly fluttered out of the way when another owl dropped a letter on top of the parcel. Harry ripped open the letter first, which was lucky, because it said:**

_**DO NOT OPEN THE PARCEL AT THE TABLE.**_

_**It contains your new Nimbus Two Thousand, but I don't want everybody knowing you've got a broomstick or they'll all want one. Oliver Wood will meet you tonight on the Quidditch pitch at seven o'clock for your first training session.**_

_**Professor M. McGonagall**_

"You managed to get on the team during first year?" Lupin asked.

Harry nodded.

"Your father didn't get on until third year. He would have been so proud of you." Lupin said.

**Harry had difficulty hiding his glee as he handed the note to Ron to read.**

'**A Nimbus Two Thousand!' Ron moaned enviously. 'I've never even _touched _one.'**

**They left the Hall quickly, wanting to unwrap the broomstick in private before their first lesson, but halfway across the Entrance Hall they found the way upstairs barred by Crabbe and Goyle. **

"Do you stalk him Malfoy, or do you just time your entrance?" Ginny asked the blonde Slytherin.

**Malfoy seized the package from Harry and felt it.**

'**That's a broomstick,' he said, throwing it back to Harry with a mixture of jealousy and spite on his face. 'You'll be for it this time, Potter, first-years aren't allowed them.'**

**Ron couldn't resist it.**

'**It's not any old broomstick,' he said, 'it's a Nimbus Two Thousand. What did you say you've got at home, Malfoy, a Comet Two Sixty?' Ron grinned at Harry. 'Comets look flashy, but they're not in the same league as the Nimbus.'**

'**What would you know about it, Weasley you couldn't afford half the handle,' Malfoy snapped back. 'I suppose you and your brothers have to save up, twig by twig.'**

"There is no need for that kind of taunting Mr Malfoy." McGonagall said sternly.

Most of the younger Weasley's were glaring at him.

**Before Ron could answer, Professor Flitwick appeared at Malfoy's elbow.**

'**Not arguing, I hope, boys?' he squeaked.**

'**Potter's been sent a broomstick, Professor,' said Malfoy quickly.**

"No one likes a tattle tale Malfoy." Ginny said.

'**Yes, yes, that's right,' said Professor Flitwick, beaming at Harry. 'Professor McGonagall told me all about the special circumstances, Potter. And what model is it?'**

'**A Nimbus Two Thousand, sir,' said Harry, fighting not to laugh at the look of horror on Malfoy's face. 'And it's really thanks to Malfoy here that I've got it,' he added.**

**Harry and Ron headed upstairs, smothering their laughter at Malfoy's obvious rage and confusion.**

"Yes it was. If he hadn't of taken Neville's Remembrall then I wouldn't have got on the team." Harry explained.

'**Well, it's true,' Harry chortled as they reached the top of the marble staircase. 'If he hadn't stolen Neville's Remembrall I wouldn't be in the team...' **

"No need to repeat yourself Harry." The twins said.

'**So I suppose you think that's a reward for breaking rules?' came an angry voice from just behind them. Hermione was stomping up the stairs looking disapprovingly at the package in Harry's hand.**

'**I thought you weren't speaking to us?' said Harry.**

'**Yes, don't stop now,' said Ron, 'it's doing us so much good.'**

"Ronald, you are being extremely rude. I did not raise you like that." Mrs Weasley scolded.

"I know mum, but Hermione really annoyed me back then. I said sorry to her and now we're friends." Ron said quickly. He really didn't want his mother picking all his faults in front of everyone.

**Hermione marched away with her nose in the air.**

**Harry had a lot of trouble keeping his mind on his lessons that day. It kept wandering up to the dormitory, where his new broomstick was lying under his bed, or straying off to the Quidditch pitch where he'd be learning to play that night. He bolted his dinner that evening without noticing what he was eating and then rushed upstairs with Ron to unwrap the Nimbus Two Thousand at last.**

'**Wow,' Ron sighed, as the broomstick rolled on to Harry's bedspread.**

**Even Harry, who knew nothing about the different brooms, thought it looked wonderful. Sleek and shiny, with a mahogany handle, it had a long tail of neat, straight twigs and _Nimbus Two Thousand _written in gold near the top.**

"I really liked that broom." Harry said sighing.

"But...but you have a Firebolt Harry!" his Quidditch team exclaimed.

"I know, and I love it, but the Nimbus was my first broom." Harry explained.

"I know what you mean Mr Potter; I loved my first broom too." Madam Hooch said dreamily as she remembered her old Shooting Star.

**As seven o'clock drew nearer, Harry left the castle and set off towards the Quidditch pitch in the dusk. He'd never been inside the stadium before. Hundreds of seats were raised in stands around the pitch so that the spectators were high enough to see what was going on. At either end of the pitch were three golden poles with hoops on the end. They reminded Harry of the little plastic sticks Muggle children blew bubbles through, except that they were fifty feet high.**

"Oh, I love them." Luna said excitedly.

**Too eager to fly again to wait for Wood, Harry mounted his broomstick and kicked off from the ground. What a feeling – he swooped in and out of the goalposts and then sped up and down the pitch. The Nimbus Two Thousand turned wherever he wanted at his lightest touch.**

'**Hey, Potter, come down!'**

**Oliver Wood had arrived. He was carrying a large wooden crate under his arm. Harry landed next to him.**

'**Very nice,' said Wood, his eyes glinting. 'I see what McGonagall meant ... you really are a natural. I'm just going to teach you the rules this evening, then you'll be joining team practice three times a week.'**

"Wood really was skipping the next time we saw him Harry." Katie Bell said.

"Yeah, he couldn't believe how good you actually were. It took him at least a week to calm down." Angelina Johnson chimed in.

Harry felt himself go a little red. He knew he was good at flying and Quidditch, but he didn't think he was _that _good.

**He opened the crate. Inside were four different-sized balls.**

'**Right,' said Wood. 'Now, Quidditch is easy enough to understand, even if it's not too easy to play. There are seven players on each side. Three of them are called Chasers.'**

'**Three Chasers,' Harry repeated, as Wood took out a bright red ball about the size of a football.**

'**This ball's called the Quaffle,' said Wood. 'The Chasers throw the Quaffle to each other and try and get it through one of the hoops to score a goal. Ten points every time the Quaffle goes through one of the hoops. Follow me?'**

'**The Chasers throw the Quaffle and put it through the hoops to score,' Harry recited. 'So – that's sort of like basketball on broomsticks with six hoops, isn't it?'**

"You see, the rules aren't that complicated to explain." Ron said to no one in particular.

'**What's basketball?' said Wood curiously.**

'**Never mind,' said Harry quickly.**

"Basketball is a Muggle sport played by two teams. The aim is to score points by throwing a ball through a hoop at either end of a pitch." Professor Burbage explained when people still looked confused.

'**Now, there's another player on each side who's called the Keeper – I'm Keeper for Gryffindor. I have to fly around our hoops and stop the other team from scoring.'**

'**Three Chasers, one Keeper,' said Harry, who was determined to remember it all. 'And they play with the Quaffle. OK, got that. So what are they for?' He pointed at the three balls left inside the box.**

'**I'll show you now,' said Wood. 'Take this.'**

**He handed Harry a small club, a bit like a rounders bat.**

'**I'm going to show you what the Bludgers do,' Wood said. 'These two are the Bludgers.'**

"I hate Bludgers." Harry moaned.

"I would too if a rogue one broke my arm." Ron said wincing at the memory.

**He showed Harry two identical balls, jet black and slightly smaller than the red Quaffle. Harry noticed that they seemed to be straining to escape the straps holding them inside the box.**

'**Stand back,' Wood warned Harry. He bent down and freed one of the Bludgers.**

**At once, the black ball rose high in the air and then pelted straight at Harry's face. Harry swung at it with the bat to stop it breaking his nose and sent it zig-zagging away into the air.**

"You would be quite a good beater." Fred said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, we could train him up a bit, couldn't we Fred?" George suggested to his twin

"And then he can cause mischief in the air." Fred said grinning.

– **it zoomed around their heads and then shot at Wood, who dived on top of it and managed to pin it to the ground.**

'**See?' Wood panted, forcing the struggling Bludger back into the crate and strapping it down safely. 'The Bludgers rocket around trying to knock players off their brooms. That's why you have two Beaters on each team. The Weasley twins are ours – it's their job to protect their side from the Bludgers and try and knock them towards the other team. So – think you've got all that?'**

'**Three Chasers try and score with the Quaffle; the Keeper guards the goalposts; the Beaters keep the Bludgers away from their team,' Harry reeled off.**

'**Very good,' said Wood.**

'**Er – have the Bludgers ever killed anyone?' Harry asked, hoping he sounded offhand.**

"It never works you know." Ginny said to Harry.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked confused.

"When you ask something like that you never sound off hand. People can always tell when something is up with you, but no one ever asks anymore because they know you only tell Ron and Hermione." Ginny explained.

'– **unless they crack my head open.'**

'**Don't worry, the Weasleys are more than a match for the Bludgers – I mean, they're like a pair of human Bludgers themselves.'**

"Why thank you Oliver. We never knew you thought of us that way." The twins said at once.

"You do know he's not here don't you?" Angelina Johnson reminded them.

"We know-" said George.

"-but we have to say it anyway." Fred finished.

**Wood reached into the crate and took out the fourth and last ball. Compared with the Quaffle and the Bludgers, it was tiny, about the size of a large walnut. It was bright gold and had little fluttering silver wings.**

'**_This,' _said Wood, 'is the Golden Snitch, and it's the most important ball of the lot. It's very hard to catch because it's so fast and difficult to see.**

"Not for Harry!" George said in a sing song voice.

**It's the Seeker's job to catch it. You've got to weave in and out of the Chasers, Beaters, Bludgers and Quaffle to get it before the other team's Seeker, because whichever Seeker catches the Snitch wins his team an extra hundred and fifty points, so they nearly always win. That's why Seekers get fouled so much. A game of Quidditch only ends when the Snitch is caught, so it can go on for ages – I think the record is three months, they had to keep bringing on substitutes so the players could get some sleep.**

'**Well, that's it – any questions?'**

Ron snorted. "Yes, how do I stay on my broom if someone is cursing it?"

Mrs Weasley heard and wondered exactly what her son meant.

**Harry shook his head. He understood what he had to do all right, it was doing it that was going to be the problem.**

'**We won't practise with the Snitch yet,' said Wood, carefully shutting it back inside the crate. 'It's too dark, we might lose it. Let's try you out with a few of these.'**

**He pulled a bag of ordinary golf balls out of his pocket, and a few minutes later, he and Harry were up in the air, Wood throwing the golf balls as hard as he could in every direction for Harry to catch.**

**Harry didn't miss a single one, and Wood was delighted.**

"Of course he would be. The team hadn't had a seeker like you since Charlie left three years before." Alicia Spinnet informed him.

**After half an hour, night had really fallen and they couldn't carry on.**

'**That Quidditch Cup'll have our name on it this year,' said Wood happily as they trudged back up to the castle. 'I wouldn't be surprised if you turn out better than Charlie Weasley, and he could have played for England if he hadn't gone off chasing dragons.'**

"I'm happier chasing dragons." Charlie said.

**Perhaps it was because he was now so busy, what with Quidditch practice three evenings a week on top of all his homework, but Harry could hardly believe it when he realised that he'd already been at Hogwarts two months. The castle felt more like home than Privet Drive had ever done. **

Everyone was sad about this. Harry should have felt sad at leaving his family, not happy.

Dumbledore, however, was looking nervous. If Harry thought that Hogwarts was his home, then it was very likely that the blood wards from his mother's sacrifice no longer worked and he had been in danger there from the end of his first year. It was something he was going to have to investigate.

**His lessons, too, were becoming more and more interesting now that they had mastered the basics.**

**On Hallowe'en morning they woke to the delicious smell of baking pumpkin wafting through the corridors. Even better, Professor Flitwick announced in Charms that he thought they were ready to start making objects fly, something they had all been dying to try since they'd seen him make Neville's toad zoom around the classroom. Professor Flitwick put the class into pairs to practise. Harry's partner was Seamus Finnigan (which was a relief, because Neville had been trying to catch his eye). **

"Sorry Neville." Harry said to his friend.

"It's okay; I know I'm not very good." He replied.

"Yes you are. Just look at what you've done in the DA. All you need is a bit of confidence." Harry replied.

**Ron, however, was to be working with Hermione Granger. It was hard to tell whether Ron or Hermione was angrier about this. She hadn't spoken to either of them since the day Harry's broomstick had arrived.**

'**Now, don't forget that nice wrist movement we've been practising!' squeaked Professor Flitwick, perched on top of his pile of books as usual.**

'**Swish and flick, remember, swish and flick. And saying the magic words properly is very important, too – never forget Wizard Baruffio, who said 's' instead of 'f' and found himself on the floor with a buffalo on his chest.'**

"Is that actually true Professor?"

"Not really, it's just to make sure everyone tries to get the pronunciation correct."

**It was very difficult. Harry and Seamus swished and flicked, but the feather they were supposed to be sending skywards just lay on the desktop.**

**Seamus got so impatient that he prodded it with his wand and set fire to it – Harry had to put it out with his hat.**

"Yes, I remember your pyrotechnics during your first years Mr Finnegan. They did cause some problems." Professor McGonagall commented amusedly.

"Sorry Professor. I think I've learnt enough not to prod my wand at things now." He replied as his housemates laughed at the memories.

**Ron, at the next table, wasn't having much more luck. '_Wingardium Leviosa!' _he shouted, waving his long arms like a windmill.**

'**You're saying it wrong,' Harry heard Hermione snap. 'It's Wing-_gar_-dium Levi-_o_-sa, make the "gar" nice and long.'**

'**You do it, then, if you're so clever,' Ron snarled.**

"Never, ever, say something like that to Hermione mate." Harry said patting Ron on the shoulder.

**Hermione rolled up the sleeves of her gown, flicked her wand and said, _'Wingardium Leviosa!'_**

**Their feather rose off the desk and hovered about four feet above their heads.**

"The best witch of our year." Harry said proudly.

Hermione blushed as she always did when she was praised that way.

'**Oh, well done!' cried Professor Flitwick, clapping. 'Everyone see here, Miss Granger's done it!'**

**Ron was in a very bad temper by the end of the class.**

"I think you both were. Not as bad as third year though." Neville said shivering at the memory of Hermione and Ron's massive falling out over Scabbers.

'**It's no wonder no one can stand her,' he said to Harry as they pushed their way into the crowded corridor. 'She's a nightmare, honestly.'**

"Ronald Weasley! That is no way to treat anyone. Your father and I have raised you better that that. You may be friends now, but that does not excuse your behaviour. If I find out you behaved like this again I will make sure that you have a miserable summer." Mrs Weasley scolded. She could not believe Ron could have been so rude and wondered how the three of them had become friends.

**Someone knocked into Harry as they hurried past him. It was Hermione. Harry caught a glimpse of her face – and was startled to see that she was in tears.**

'**I think she heard you.'**

'**So?' said Ron, but he looked a bit uncomfortable. 'She must've noticed she's got no friends.'**

**Hermione didn't turn up for the next class and wasn't seen all afternoon. On their way down to the Great Hall for the Hallowe'en feast, Harry and Ron overheard Parvati Patil telling her friend Lavender that Hermione was crying in the girls' toilets and wanted to be left alone. Ron looked still more awkward at this, but a moment later they had entered the Great Hall, where the Hallowe'en decorations put Hermione out of their minds.**

Hermione shook her head. It was typical of Harry and Ron to forget things when food was in front of them.

**A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low black clouds, making the candles in the pumpkins stutter. The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet.**

"Hogwarts always did look good on Hallowe'en." Bill said wistfully.

**Harry was just helping himself to a jacket potato when Professor Quirrell came sprinting into the Hall, his turban askew and terror on his face.**

**Everyone stared as he reached Professor Dumbledore's chair, slumped against the table and gasped, 'Troll – in the dungeons – thought you ought to know.'**

**He then sank to the floor in a dead faint.**

"Great acting." Harry said sarcastically.

**There was uproar. It took several purple firecrackers exploding from the end of Professor Dumbledore's wand to bring silence.**

'**Prefects,' he rumbled, 'lead your houses back to the dormitories immediately!'**

**Percy was in his element.**

'**Follow me! Stick together, first-years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now. Make way, first-years coming through! Excuse me, I'm a Prefect!'**

'**How could a troll get in?' Harry asked as they climbed the stairs.**

"Yes, I'd like to know that as well." Mrs Weasley said glaring at Dumbledore.

"You will find out in the end Molly." Dumbledore said calmly.

'**Don't ask me, they're supposed to be really stupid,' said Ron. 'Maybe Peeves let it in for a Hallowe'en joke.'**

"Peeves may be a menace at times, but he would never do anything to intentionally hurt students." said Fred.

**They passed different groups of people hurrying in different directions. As they jostled their way through a crowd of confused Hufflepuffs, Harry suddenly grabbed Ron's arm.**

'**I've just thought – Hermione.'**

'**What about her?'**

'**She doesn't know about the troll.'**

**Ron bit his lip.**

'**Oh, all right,' he snapped. 'But Percy'd better not see us.'**

**Ducking down, they joined the Hufflepuffs going the other way, slipped down a deserted side **

**corridor and hurried off towards the girls' toilets.**

Remus paled. He guessed what was going to happen and wanted to know how the three of them made it out alive.

Sirius was having the same thought as he lay next to Harry's feet at the Gryffindor table.

**They had just turned the corner when they heard quick footsteps behind them.**

'**Percy!' hissed Ron, pulling Harry behind a large stone griffin.**

**Peering around it, however, they saw not Percy but Snape. He crossed the corridor and disappeared from view.**

'**What's he doing?' Harry whispered. 'Why isn't he down in the dungeons with the rest of the teachers?'**

"Please do not make assumptions as to what Professor Snape was doing. It will become clearer in the next two chapters." Dumbledore said to the Hall

'**Search me.'**

**Quietly as possible, they crept along the next corridor after Snape's fading footsteps.**

'**He's heading for the third floor,' Harry said, but Ron held up his hand.**

'**Can you smell something?'**

**Harry sniffed and a foul stench reached his nostrils, a mixture of old socks and the kind of public toilet no one seems to clean.**

"Do you think we could develop an air freshener which smelt the same?" Fred whispered quietly to George.

"Of course we could, but who would buy it?" George whispered back.

"What are you two whispering about?" Mrs Weasley said sharply.

"Nothing mum, nothing at all." Fred said.

He look on Mrs Weasley's face showed that she did not believe a word they had said.

**And then they heard it – a low grunting and the shuffling footfalls of gigantic feet. Ron pointed: at the end of a passage to the left, something huge was moving towards them. They shrank into the shadows and watched as it emerged into a patch of moonlight.**

**It was a horrible sight. Twelve feet tall, its skin was a dull, granite grey, its great lumpy body like a boulder with its small bald head perched which dragged along the floor because its arms were so long.**

**The troll stopped next to a doorway and peered inside. It waggled its long ears, making up its tiny mind, then slouched slowly into the room.**

'**The key's in the lock,' Harry muttered. 'We could lock it in.'**

'**Good idea,' said Ron nervously.**

**They edged towards the open door, mouths dry, praying the troll wasn't about to come out of it. With one great leap, Harry managed to grab the key, slam the door and lock it.**

Lavender and Parvati looked at Ron and harry in horror.

"That was the girls bathroom wasn't it?" Parvati asked.

Ron and harry could only nod.

'**_Yes!'_**

**Flushed with their victory they started to run back up the passage, but as they reached the corner they heard something that made their hearts stop – a high, petrified scream – and it was coming from the chamber they'd just locked up.**

'**Oh, no,' said Ron, pale as the Bloody Baron.**

'**It's the girls' toilets!' Harry gasped.**

'**_Hermione!' _they said together.**

"Why didn't you get a teacher?" Arthur asked.

"There was no time dad. Hermione could have been seriously injured or worse if we hadn't helped." Ron said hoping both of his parents understood.

Arthur nodded his head whilst Molly did nothing. She understood why her son had helped, but just wished he could stay out of danger.

**It was the last thing they wanted to do, but what choice did they have? Wheeling around they sprinted back to the door and turned the key, fumbling in their panic – Harry pulled the door open – they ran inside.**

**Hermione Granger was shrinking against the wall opposite, looking as if she was about to faint. The troll was advancing on her, knocking the sinks off the walls as it went.**

"Why didn't you move? Surely you knew you'd get hurt if you didn't?" Hannah Abbott asked.

"I froze. I was just so scared that I couldn't move." Hermione replied.

'**Confuse it!' Harry said desperately to Ron, and seizing a tap he threw it as hard as he could against the wall.**

**The troll stopped a few feet from Hermione. It lumbered around, blinking stupidly, to see what had made the noise. Its mean little eyes saw Harry.**

_Oh no_, Remus thought. He was having trouble listening to this and didn't know if he could take reading about Harry facing Voldemort.

**It hesitated, then made for him instead, lifting its club as it went.**

'**Oy, pea-brain!' yelled Ron from the other side of the chamber, and he threw a metal pipe at it. The troll didn't even seem to notice the pipe hitting its shoulder, but it heard the yell and paused again, turning its ugly snout towards Ron instead, giving Harry time to run around it.**

'**Come on, run, _run!' _Harry yelled at Hermione, trying to pull her towards the door, but she couldn't move, she was still flat against the wall, her mouth open with terror.**

Hermione closed her eyes. She really wished she had been able to move so they could get out of there sooner.

**The shouting and the echoes seemed to be driving the troll berserk. It roared again and started towards Ron, who was nearest and had no way to escape.**

**Harry then did something that was both very brave and very stupid: - **

"Just the usual Harry then?" said George jokingly.

"Of course, everything Harry does is either very brave, very stupid, and most of the time it's both."

**he took a great running jump and managed to fasten his arms around the troll's neck from behind. The troll couldn't feel Harry hanging there, but even a troll will notice if you stick a long bit of wood up its nose, and Harry's wand had still been in his hand when he'd jumped – it had gone straight up one of the troll's nostrils.**

Eww's were repeated all over the hall at this.

**Howling with pain, the troll twisted and flailed its club, with Harry clinging on for dear life; any second, the troll was going to rip him off or catch him a terrible blow with the club.**

**Hermione had sunk to the floor in fright; Ron pulled out his own wand – not knowing what he was going to do he heard himself cry the first spell that came into his head: _'Wingardium Leviosa!'_**

"Why did you use a spell you couldn't even do?" Smith sneered again.

**The club flew suddenly out of the troll's hand, rose high, high up into the air, turned slowly over – and dropped, with a sickening crack, on to its owner's head. The troll swayed on the spot and then fell flat on its face, with a thud that made the whole room tremble.**

"You actually beat a mountain Troll with Wingardium Leviosa?" Lee Jordan asked awed. "Legends."

**Harry got to his feet. He was shaking and out of breath. Ron was standing there with his wand still raised, staring at what he had done.**

**It was Hermione who spoke first. **

'**Is it – dead?'**

"It takes a lot more to kill a Troll than hitting it on the head with a club. Unless you hit it several times, but I'm not recommending that." Lupin said calmly.

'**I don't think so,' said Harry. 'I think it's just been knocked out.'**

**He bent down and pulled his wand out of the troll's nose. It was covered in what looked like lumpy grey glue.**

"Did you have to be so detailed Harry? They are disgusting." Ginny said, screwing her nose up. This action was being repeated around the Hall.

'**Urgh – troll bogies.'**

**He wiped it on the troll's trousers.**

**A sudden slamming and loud footsteps made the three of them look up. They hadn't realised what a racket they had been making, but of course, someone downstairs must have heard the crashes and the troll's roars. A moment later, Professor McGonagall had come bursting into the room,**

**closely followed by Snape, with Quirrell bringing up the rear. Quirrell took one look at the troll, let out a faint whimper and sat quickly down on a toilet, clutching his heart.**

"Only because he couldn't believe it had failed." Hermione whispered.

**Snape bent over the troll. Professor McGonagall was looking at Ron and Harry. Harry had never seen her look so angry. Her lips were white.**

**Hopes of winning fifty points for Gryffindor faded quickly from Harry's mind.**

Professor McGonagall's eyebrow lifted while Snape snorted.

'**What on earth were you thinking of?' said Professor McGonagall, with cold fury in her voice. **

**Harry looked at Ron, who was still standing with his wand in the air. 'You're lucky you weren't killed. Why aren't you in your dormitory?'**

"She was scary wasn't she?" Ron whispered to Harry.

"If you think she was scary then, you should have seen her after Filch had caught Hermione and I after Norbert left." Harry whispered back.

Hermione nodded agreeing with Harry.

**Snape gave Harry a swift, piercing look. Harry looked at the floor. He wished Ron would put his wand down.**

**Then a small voice came out of the shadows.**

'**Please, Professor McGonagall – they were looking for me.'**

'**Miss Granger!'**

**Hermione had managed to get to her feet at last.**

'**I went looking for the troll because I – I thought I could deal with it on my own – you know, because I've read all about them.'**

**Ron dropped his wand. Hermione Granger, telling a downright lie to a teacher?**

"Now she tells them all the time, don't you Hermione?" Fred said winking.

'**If they hadn't found me, I'd be dead now. Harry stuck his wand up its nose and Ron knocked it out with its own club. They didn't have time to come and fetch anyone. It was about to finish me off when they arrived.'**

**Harry and Ron tried to look as though this story wasn't new to them.**

"Which didn't work Mr Potter and Mr Weasley; you should have told me the truth. You should have gone to a teacher, or one of your prefects to tell them and let them deal with it. You can't keep going into dangerous situations on your own." Professor McGonagall said sternly.

'**Well – in that case ...' said Professor McGonagall, staring at the three of them. 'Miss Granger, you foolish girl, how could you think of tackling a mountain troll on your own?'**

**Hermione hung her head. **

**Harry was speechless. Hermione was the last person to do anything against the rules, and here she was, pretending she had, to get them out of trouble. It was as if Snape had started handing out sweets.**

Snape sneered. He reluctantly agreed with Potter that it was the last thing he expected from Miss Granger.

'**Miss Granger, five points will be taken from Gryffindor for this,' said Professor McGonagall. 'I'm very disappointed in you. If you're not hurt at all, you'd better get off to Gryffindor Tower. Students are finishing the feast in their houses.'**

**Hermione left.**

**Professor McGonagall turned to Harry and Ron.**

"Uh-oh, you're in for it now!" George said dramatically.

'**Well, I still say you were lucky, but not many first-years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go.'**

"Is that it? We got a lot more when we did something, and we didn't risk our lives." The twins said slightly outraged.

**They hurried out of the chamber and didn't speak at all until they had climbed two floors up. It was a relief to be away from the smell of the troll, quite apart from anything else.**

'**We should have got more than ten points,' Ron grumbled.**

'**Five, you mean, once she's taken off Hermione's.'**

'**Good of her to get us out of trouble like that,' Ron admitted. 'Mind you, we _did _save her.'**

"She wouldn't have needed saving if you hadn't of locked her in." Bill reminded him.

'**She might not have needed saving if we hadn't locked the thing in with her,' Harry reminded him.**

"You took Harry's line there Bill." Charlie chuckled.

"Well you know what they say, great minds think alike." Bill replied.

**They had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.**

'**Pig snout,' they said and entered.**

"You have weird passwords." Pansy Parkinson drawled.

"Says the person whose passwords include 'pureblood'." Harry responded.

**The common room was packed and noisy. Everyone was eating the food that had been sent up. **

**Hermione, however, stood alone by the door, waiting for them. There was a very embarrassed pause. Then, none of them looking at each other, they all said 'Thanks', and hurried off to get**

**plates.**

**But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them.**

"I can't believe that's how you became friends. We knew it was something big, but not the troll." Dean Thomas said shaking his head.

The majority of students in the hall were thinking the same thing.


End file.
